Podcap: Cleveland 117, Detroit 113 (OT) (or, Startling Resurrection)
2026-05-15The Cavs came from nine down with three minutes and change to take the Pistons to overtime and ultimately defeat them, Friday. The win started all of us in a game where the Cavs didn’t seam to be in the lead in regulation for more than five minutes. But a 9-0 run, which included a 7-0 Evan Mobley stretch that no one saw coming, led the Cavs to O.T. before the Cavs dominated overtime.
To break it all down, Nate Smith, Eli Kim, and our own resurrected Winter Solider, Tom Pestak came out of the ice to record an instapod. Only Nate actually got to watch the end live (and he was never worried), while Tom and Eli had to glean the improbable news from media scraps. The trio broke down the crunch time, overtime, the officiating morass, the unbelievable moments from the “core four” and looked forward to a closeout game at home Saturday.
In the second half of the pod, Nate and Tom traded old school CtB stories and complained about officiating. It was a lot of Dad talk for CtB grizzled veterans as they basked in the glow of a reunion and an unexpected win.
As always, catch us below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, or Spotify.
Powered by RedCircle
Good to hear from you, Tom!!
Rumor has it a flu/bug is going around the Cavs locker room. Has been for a couple days.
I would buy a Tom Pestak T-shirt for his rant video after Game 1 of the 2018 Finals.
At the arena. Jenkins starting (not Robinson). Any updates on the visitor GTD’s?
Love the pod.
But, Nate, you are drunk if you think Cade is better than SGA midrange. He missed 2 midrangers in the last 3 minutes.
Harris triple. Det up 9.
Harden blocked, Harden O board, Mitchell 2. -7
Cade 16′ miss, Jenkins OReb, Jenkins miss 3
Spida DReb, Mobley dunk. -5
Mobley blocks Reed, Reed OReb/24 violation
Mobley 3, -2
Harris miss 3pt, Allen DReb
Harden miss, Harden OReb, Mobley 2 FT. Tied.
Cade miss 16′, Harris OReb, LeVert Miss, 24 sec
Mitchell blocked by Thompson….OT
Just to box score this one: Pts/Reb/Ast/Stl/Blk
Harden: 30/8/6/1/3. 8-21/3-10/11-14. 6 TO +11
Mobley: 19/8/8/1/3. 6-13/2-3/5-6. 4 TO. -7.
Spida: 21/4/3/0/0. 7-18/1-8/6-6. 2 TO. -4.
Allen: 16/10/1/1/2. 6-10/x/4-5 1 TO +14, 6 OReb
Strus: 20/8/1/1/1. 6-8/6-8/2-2. 0 TO. +9.
I thought the G5 win vs Toronto was gutsy. We were in deep trouble there.
This one tops it, easily.
As for the JA/Thompson non-call. I think that is a foul if it happens in the 2nd quarter. I thought we were lucky it wasn’t. It shouldn’t have been called in that moment, but it could have been.
I think it’s a bad call in the first three quarters and a terrible call in crunch time. Glad they swallowed the whistle.
You are making a courageous stand on this hill. But I think the podcast outcry over this play was not in touch with typical basketball reality. I cannot ever remember a playoff game deciding “loose ball foul” call 30 feet from the basket. Maybe it happened but that is not the norm. The norm on a play like that is “incidental contact,” play on. And it was Ausar, not Jarrett, who initiated the collision although Ausar got tripped up at the end. Perk said it best: “No one wants to see a playoff game end on a call like that.”
I do think Cade’s better purely at mid-rangers. But Shai is such a foul grifter that you can’t guard him straight up. If I wanted someone to make a tough mid-rangers at the end of a game, I’d pick Cade. If I wanted someone you couldn’t breathe on in the first three and a half quarters, I’d pick Shai. Also, I’m aware my hate is irrational.
I have no idea how one defines midrange, but the names that popped into my head were SGA, Brunson, DeRozan, Kawhi, Murray, and Cade. For gits and shiggles, Spida & Brown. This year only.
FG% by distance: 3-10, 10-16, 16-3PT
SGA: 48.5%, 58.6%, 50.4%
Brunson: 47.6%, 48.9%, 51.7%
DeRozan: 57.3%, 48.4%, 46.8%
Kawhi: 56.6%, 52.5%, 44.5%
Murray: 46.0%, 52.4%, 42.3%
Cade: 46.8%, 45.8%, 50.6%
————
Spida: 56.5%, 54.1%, 42.6%
Brown: 48.4%, 45.1%, 43.5%
Medal stands:
3-10: DeRozan, Kawhi, Mitchell
10-16: SGA, Mitchell, Kawhi (Murray close)
16-3PT: Brunson, Cade, SGA
% of FGAs by distance:
Player, 3-10, 10-16, 16-3PT
SGA: 17.3%, 27.3%, 10.1%
Brunson: 22.2%, 20.7%, 9.7%
DeRozan: 18.4%, 30.2%, 27.7%
Kawhi: 20.5%, 20.4%, 10.9%
Murray: 19.5%, 14.0%, 12.4%
Cade: 30.0%, 14.0%, 7.3%
Mitchell: 19.2%, 11.3%, 6.7%
Brown: 26.2%, 17.1%, 14.5%
All those other dudes are bigger, but I’d love to see Mitchell operate more in the 10-16 range. He does a good job avoiding long 2s, where he is not particularly strong.